Gutbucket: A Modest Proposal

Gutbucket rocks the house as it aligns avant-garde metrics with snazzy jazz, and jazz-rock, while also integrating hardcore rock with an in-your-face mode of attack. Ty Citerman's loud crunch chords, atop a slow-paced rock beat on "Head Goes Thud," pave the way for a series of quirky, odd-metered deviations as the quartet switches gears on a nanosecond's notice. Think of Pink Floyd teaming with Frank Zappa.

Multi-reedman Ken Thomson helps generate the rip-roaring jazz frameworks with intense performances, spanning howling notes and fluid jazz improvisation. The artists offer a cinematic excursion for the mind's eye, but it's not about reckless abandon. This is one heck of a tight-knit unit. And the respective musicians possess broad music vernaculars, including a few prog-rock type riffs tossed into various movements, complete with knotty twists and turns. They even delve into the Klezmer format during "Lucy Ferment," which is a piece consisting of dizzying unison lines and outlandish deviations from the tried and true.

The plot thickens on "Side Effects May Include," where Thomson's edgy and bluesy sax parts drive home a swaggering blues motif, counterbalanced by Citerman's distortion-laced chords, segueing to the rhythm section's pounding pulse. Ultimately, each musician serves as a vital cog in the wheel but, more importantly, Gutbucket carves out a nouveau approach, maintaining a distinct stylistic gait in its rather persuasive fashion, equating to thrills a minute.

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